The BMW Club East Anglia Section

The day dawned sunny but the forecast was for showers.

This Bike Show is a very popular show and the East Anglia Section has attended as exhibitors for three years now.

The setting is the old steam generating site at Langford, near Maldon Essex and houses the original steam generating engine and complete workshops, all open the the people visiting the show.

This year the boiler had been repaired and the very large steam engine should have been running under steam power but some hitch had cause for the stand by compressed air to be used.

On Saturday 6th August several members of the East Anglia Committee and Club had set up the club tent with banners and leaflets and camped over night on site.

I arrived around 08.30am to see all ready for the show.

This was a special show for me as I had just finish a long refurbishment of my 1973 BMW R75/5 Long Shaft and rode it to the show.

East Anglia Section Stand with Tent


We also had an R60, R50, R65, K1300GT, RT1200, F650GS, R80GS, a Ural Combination and others.

As the 10am start time approached many bikes of all makes were arriving, some to show on club stands and others parked in a centre area to create a show within a show.

Centre Section view


East Anglia Members on the BMW Stand


Many visitors called in at the stand throughout the day and we signed up some new members.

Looking around the stands I saw Brough Superiors, Douglas, Triumph, BSA, Velocettes and various Japanese bikes.

Brough Superior


All these bikes had been ridden to the show and it is a testament to the owners who keep these venerable bikes on the road.

Lunch time came and after my sandwiches I walked around the show and over to the museum which is well worth visiting.

Clouds started to gather around 2pm and soon it started to rain.

The shower got heavier and heavier and by 2.30pm many people had left.

I donned my waterproofs (thoughtfully packed in my rucksack) and ventured out into the rain which was by now falling less heavily.

Saying my farewells I mounted the R75/5 (first time it had seen rain for 15 years as it had been laid up since 1996 before I bought it), turned on the fuel taps and pressed the starter.

It fired up on second press a (a little advance in the timing as I had just fitted new coils, condenser and points) and off I rode across the waterlogged field to the open road.

This is the first rainy ride I’ve had on a naked bike for many years and I had to remind myself I did not have ABS (my other bike is a new R1200GS Adventure).

View from BMW Club Tent during the rain!